Criminal Justice Responses to Maternal Filicide by Emma Milne

Author:Emma Milne [Milne, Emma]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Crimes & Criminals, Penology, Criminology
ISBN: 9781839096228
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
Published: 2021-08-27T04:00:00+00:00

Soul-destroying Closed Spaces

The prison environment, with its high levels of security and practical interior, creates a particular experience of closed space. It is not all about locks, but also about geographical location. Many prisoners report they feel displaced to ‘a different country’ (Olivia) because the prison is far away from their home. While some perceive it as ‘one of the most hard to get-out-of prisons’ in terms of security, others say that it does not feel like an ‘actual prison’ with regard to layout, atmosphere and ‘even just colours of walls’ (Kara) reminding of Carlen’s (1983) reports of women’s prisons being seen as ‘holiday camps’. Despite these descriptions, however, the effect of being locked up is described in the same way with varying pains attached: ‘sitting in the wee room [by] yourself, it just makes you feel depressed’ (Louise). Spatial awareness of the confined surrounding can be found in every interview, the assemblages of spaces contributing to the experience of being locked up. Even though many prisoners move cells several times during their confinement, most rooms are decorated with pictures on assigned boards and toiletries on the shelves to ‘make it feel as homely as you can’ (Hannah). The TV and the kettle are considered the most important items, while many complain about the mattresses being too hard and causing back pain. Other items in the cell have improved since the refurbishment, with freshly painted walls and clean furniture where before the bunk beds were ‘rusty and horrible’, walls covered in toothpaste and writing all over the beds and the rooms. The new colour scheme does not suit everyone: ‘the rooms are alright. Pink. (…) Pink, that’s the colour ae the wall. (…) and then it’s pink bedding. I don’t ‘hink every lassie like pink’ (Flo). This is sign of the feminisation of prison space which many young women talk about and most have reservations about.

Many say they find it stressful to move rooms, when they are downgraded or even enhanced. Most form a certain attachment to their room, especially if they are there on a longer basis, perhaps due to a homely feel gained from their own decorations or the local view and soundscape. Prisoners can develop an attachment to particular personal spaces and rituals:

I liked my old room because I always slept on the tap bunk and I used tae listen fur the trains gaun by. So I used to open the curtain and see the big trains (…) but when you look oot my windae [now] it’s just they fences, oh my god, they have actually fences that I cannae climb. (…) It’s just you look oot, man, what’ve we got? Big massive fences. You see like the trees and that’s dead nice, and then you just see these big horrible, big-ass fences. And you’re like that ‘right, I’m depressed’. Just lie in my bed a’ day. (Bianca)

The oppressiveness of the physical space can have a direct impact on the young women’s mood and levels of hope.

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